Outgunned, but determined Ukrainian troops have slowed Russia’s advance and held on to the capital and other key cities — at least for now.
In the face of stiff resistance and devastating sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces put on high alert, threatening to elevate the war to a terrifying new level.
Explosions and gunfire that have disrupted life since the invasion began last week appeared to subside around Kyiv overnight, before Ukrainian and Russian delegations met yesterday on Ukraine’s border with Belarus. It was unclear what, if anything, those talks would yield.
Photo: AFP
Terrified Ukrainian families huddled in shelters, basements or corridors, waiting to find out.
Exact death tolls are unclear, but the UN human rights chief said 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded — warning that figure was likely a vast undercount — and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that at least 16 children were among the dead.
More than 500,000 people have fled the nation since the invasion, another UN official said yesterday — among the millions who have left their homes.
Photo: Reuters
Russia’s central bank yesterday scrambled to shore up the tanking ruble, while the US and European nations upped weapons shipments to Ukraine.
While they hope to curb Putin’s aggression after he unleashed Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, the measures also risked pushing an increasingly cornered Putin closer to the edge.
“I sit and pray for these negotiations to end successfully, so that they reach an agreement to end the slaughter, and so there is no more war,” said Alexandra Mikhailova, weeping as she clutched her cat in a makeshift shelter in the strategic southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Around her, parents sought to console children and keep them warm.
In Kyiv, long lines formed outside supermarkets yesterday as residents were allowed out of bomb shelters and homes for the first time since a curfew imposed on Saturday.
The relative lull in warfare yesterday morning in Ukraine was unlikely to last. Neighboring Belarus could send troops to help Russia as soon as yesterday, said a senior US intelligence official with direct knowledge of US intelligence assessments. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
US officials said that they believe the invasion has been more difficult, and slower, than the Kremlin envisioned, though that could change as Moscow adapts.
The British Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the bulk of Putin’s forces are about 30km north of Kyiv, their advance having been slowed by Ukrainian forces.
Western nations ramped up the pressure with a freeze on Russia’s hard currency reserves, threatening to bring Russia’s economy to its knees. Russians withdrew savings, and sought to shed rubles for US dollars and euros, while Russian businesses scrambled to protect their finances.
In addition to sanctions, the US and Germany announced they would send Stinger missiles to Ukraine among other military supplies. The EU — founded to ensure peace on the continent after World War II — is supplying lethal aid for the first time, including anti-tank weapons and ammunition.
At least one Western nation was studying a request from Ukraine to provide fighter jets, an EU official said. She spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not yet public.
EU defense ministers were to meet yesterday to discuss how to get the pledged weaponry into Ukraine.
German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht said without elaborating that her nation has “channels and possibilities” to do that, and a trainload of Czech equipment arrived on Sunday. Blocking off those shipments would clearly be a key Russian priority.
It remains to be seen how much the weaponry would help Ukraine fend off Russia’s vastly greater arsenal.
The increasingly erratic Putin made a link between tightening sanctions and his decision on Sunday to raise Russia’s nuclear posture. He also pointed at “aggressive statements” by NATO as a reason for his move, a reference to his long-running stance that the US-led alliance is an existential threat to Russia.
US and British officials played down Putin’s nuclear threat, and its practical meaning was not immediately clear. Russia and the US typically have land and submarine-based nuclear forces that are prepared for combat at all times, but nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft are not.
A tiny sliver of hope emerged yesterday as talks began between Ukrainian and Russian officials.
Zelenskiy’s office said it would demand an immediate ceasefire.
While Ukraine sent its defense minister and other top officials, the Russian delegation is led by Putin’s adviser on culture — an unlikely envoy for ending a war and a sign of how Moscow views the talks.
It was not immediately clear what Putin was seeking in the talks or from the war itself.
Western officials believe Putin wants to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence. His comments on Sunday raised fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake.
In New York, the 193-member UN General Assembly scheduled an emergency session on Russia’s invasion.
With the Ukrainian capital besieged, the Russian military offered to allow residents to leave Kyiv via a safe corridor, raising fears a further onslaught was coming. The mayor of the city of nearly 3 million had earlier expressed doubt that civilians could be evacuated.
Authorities have been handing out weapons to anyone willing to defend the city. Ukraine is also releasing prisoners with military experience who want to fight, and training people to make firebombs.
Battles also broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, and strategic ports in the nation’s south came under assault from Russian forces.
In Mariupol, where Ukrainians were trying to fend off attack, a medical team at a city hospital desperately tried to revive a six-year-old girl in unicorn pajamas who was mortally wounded in Russian shelling.
During the rescue attempt, a doctor in blue medical scrubs, pumping oxygen into the girl, looked directly into The Associated Press video camera capturing the scene.
“Show this to Putin,” he said angrily. “The eyes of this child, and crying doctors.”
Their resuscitation efforts failed and the girl lay dead on a gurney, covered by her jacket.
Nearly 900km away, Faina Bystritska was under threat in the city of Chernihiv.
“I wish I had never lived to see this,” said Bystritska, an 87-year-old Jewish survivor of World War II.
She said sirens blare almost constantly in the city, about 150km from Kyiv.
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